Barbed Wire (1927)
8/10
France - in the summer of 1914 under a cloudless sky.
25 April 2024
This is a 1927 black & white American silent film.

Filming & production - Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Directed by Rowland V. Lee and Erich Pommer.

Screenplay by Jules Furthman.

Loosely based on the 1923 novel "The Woman of Knockaloe" by Sir Hall Caine.

Cinematography by Bert Glennon.

Starring Pola Negri, Clive Brook, Einar Hanson, Claude Gillingwater, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Ben Hendricks, Jr., and Clyde Cook.

We all know what 1914 means. Yet, this is just the beginning. We also notice a scant splattering of intertitles and the background music was pulled out of a hat. I fount it better to concentrate without sound.

Yep, Andre Moreau (Einar Hanson) is off to war. His sister, Mona Moreau (Pola Negri 1897-1987 ) says "It won't last a month, Andre. You'll be back before the harvest is over." Little did she know what a waits her.

The government takes over the farm for a prison camp. And the occupants have to stay to supply food for the prisoners. Who would have guessed from the title of the movie?

Mona who is dead set against the German prisoners is ogled by them as they pass. Soon interfacing will be inevitable. Uh-oh Mona is starting to talk to them.

Jean Moreau (Claude Gillingwater) an evil looking old man sells cows and leers at innocent looking Mona. We know what he is thinking, and so does she.

There are some realistic battle scenes.

Now you know the set up and the characters watch to see what happens.

Warning there are quite a few tearjerker scenes. Prepare for a soliloquy.

It is an interesting story. However, not sure of its purpose? Is it pure entertainment or some sort of message? The book it is loosely based on is considered an antiwar novel.
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